Lucy's New Door / How to Install A Wall Dog Door

That's right, Lucy now has her own personal door!  And I'm going to give you a little how-to on installing said dog door.

I purchased this wall double-panel door from RadioFence for only $70, much cheaper than Petsmart!

It is two separate doors that connect in the middle, which allows for different widths for walls. It comes with easy to follow instructions too, but of course those are designed for people with nice easy to cut wood siding outside...

My wonderful Dad offered to come by and install it for us; he had already installed one at his house and since he had all the tools it was a no-brainer for me to say "YES PLEASE!"

The first step was to find where we wanted to place the door, make sure it was between the studs and trace the paper that came with the door onto the wall onto the perfect spot.

Then using his Sawzall he cut the hole for the door.

Hole complete, now pull out the insulation.

Much better, now to do the other size.  Before he cut out the other side he drilled a hole in each corner so they would be lined up.

Dad brought home some tools from work - the big-boy compressor.

Now it's time for the fun part!  It wouldn't be near as much fun if we didn't have super tough stucco.  But who wants easy to cut siding anyways?

To make sure everything else was straight he lined the paper up to the holes and traced it again.

Okay, so cutting stucco is not fun, but at least his special drill with chisel did the job.  

Then he used a pry-bar to pull the whole piece loose.  Our stucco was attached to some wire, so we had to snip that off too.

Look who stopped by to say hi!

We tested the dog door to make sure it fit, not quite, so a little more chiseling was needed.

Now we have a perfect fit!

You can see how the door goes mostly through the wall, the other half will overlap it.

We then stuck the inside door in and attached screws to hold it in place.

We built Lucy a temporary step, but she's was a little unsure about it.  Now comes the fun part, training her to use this new "fancy" dog door.

So we swapped out the step for a door mat and give her lots of bribes!

She did great with the single dog door at our old house, but is still not liking the double door system here. She can do it, but it is a matter of choice.  How does your dog like it's dog door?  Any tips for making it more comfortable?